My Soul to Save
Page 41

Were talking about this! Addison whirled her sister around until she faced a mirror hanging on the wall above a beige couch. Look!
Regan looked, and her eyes went anime-wide. But though her cheeks flushed bright red, no color returned to her eyes. That beautiful blue was gone, along with her soul.
What? Regan started to step closer to the mirror for a better look, then changed her mind and stepped back instead, shaking her head slowly in denial. Then she whirled on John Dekker and his reaper with a rage and confusion almost equal to her sisters. Whats wrong with my eyes? How can I see if I dont have eyes? You didnt say anything about this.
It was in the fine print. The reaper crossed her arms over a gaunt, black-clad chest, contempt glittering in her normal gray eyes. You are old enough to read, arent you?
Dekker laid one hand on her forearm, and the reaper seemed to fold into herself, as if hed just jabbed her off button. Theres nothing wrong with your eyes. His voice was calm and smooth, but it had nothing on Nash. Its a side effect of the process. And we have an easy fix for this, dont we, Addison?
Dekker glanced at the older Page sister, but she only glared at him, jaw clenched in vicious anger as he handed two small white boxes to her sister. These are your prescription, I believe, and a virtual match to your own eye color. Ill have new boxes hand-delivered every six months. These should last until then, but please be careful with them. He winked his own nondescript brown eyes. They arent exactly cheap.
Regans empty eyes filled with tears again, and I couldnt remember ever being scared of a crying eighth-grader before. But I was scared then. The incongruity of her very human tears with those distinctly inhuman eyes gave me chills in places I didnt even know I could get cold. Will they stay like this? She turned hesitantly toward the mirror again, then away before she could possibly have really seen herself. Why do they look soempty?
Because theyre empty, Tod said, and we all spun around at the sound of his voice. Tod stood near the kitchen doorway, next to a small redheaded boy who barely came up to the reapers shoulders. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and without your soul, theres nothing for them to reflect.
Dekkers pet reaper went stiff on the edge of the room. Was Tod really that scary?
Do you have another brother? I whispered, standing on my toes to reach Nashs ear. And did your dad have red hair?
Thats Levi, he whispered back, and the little boy nodded politely at me, shrugging with his hands in the pockets of a baggy pair of khakis.
Levi-the-reaper? I asked, a little embarrassed when myvoice went high with surprise. After all the truly weird stuff Id seen since discovering I was a bean sidhe, a freckle-faced little-boy reaper shouldnt have fazed me in the least. But it did. Tods boss, Levi-the-reaper?
The one and only. Levi shot me a disarmingly sweet smile. One his eyes didnt match. Then he turned a ferocious glare on the rogue reaper. Bana.
She froze with that one syllableher own name, spoken in a childs high, soft voiceand her fingers twitched nervously at her sides. She looked like she wanted to run, but couldnt.
I wasnt sure who to expect, but I must admit your name never occurred to me. Levi strolled forward like a kid in the park, and I had the absurd thought that he should have been carrying a baseball bat on his shoulder, or a skateboard under one arm. He stopped several feet from Bana and her boss, and gave John Dekker only a fleeting glance, as if he didnt recognize one of the most famous faces in the world.
Which struck me as especially ironic, considering the reapers apparent age.
Who is this? Dekker asked, but before Bana could answerand I seriously doubt she would havethe boy pulled his freckled right hand from his pocket.
Levi Van Zant. Senior reaper in this district. Ive come to relieve Bana of her duties. And her soul.
Banas arms went stiff in anticipation, and I realized she was trying to blink out of Addys house, and out of Levis reach. My breath caught in my throat. We were going to lose her. But did it even matter? We were too late to stop her from ferrying Regan to the Netherworld.
But despite her obvious effort to disappear, she remained fully corporeal.
And before I could release my breathbefore Bana could even suck one inLevis small hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. His fingers barely met on the back of her arm, but any doubt I had about the strength of his grip was put to rest with one look at her face, twisted in agony, as if his very touch burned.
Bana, look at me.
She tried to refuse. Her free hand clawed uselessly at the wall behind her, scratching the Sheetrock, resistance etched into the terrified, angry lines of her jaw and forehead. But she couldnt resist. Nor could she blink out. Somehow, Levi was blocking her abilities. Guaranteeing her cooperation.
Would Tod ever have that power?
Look at me, Bana.
Her eyes flew open, and a cry leaked from her mouth. She looked straight into Levis green eyes, which seemed toshine. To glow with a bright, cold light.
We watched, every one of us fascinated. Including Dekker, but especially Regan Page, who was getting her first terrifying glimpse of the world shed just entered. The world shed sold herself to.